


Deck of Many Ficlets

by CatKing_Catkin



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Banter, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Escape, Established Relationship, Ficlet Collection, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Future Fic, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Implied/Referenced Torture, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, One Shot Collection, Prompt Fill, Rough Kissing, Speculation, Tender Sex, Touch-Starved Caleb Widogast, Tumblr Prompt, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 09:22:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16851424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatKing_Catkin/pseuds/CatKing_Catkin
Summary: Yet another collection for all the prompts I fill on my tumblr that are too small to really warrant their own posting. Primarily Critical Role based, largely focused on Caleb and Molly.





	1. "I need you" (Caleb/Molly)

**Author's Note:**

> This fic would have been roughly how the sequel to Traveling Hearts ended.
> 
> So at least you all can rest assured that things would have been okay. <3

After the events of the past several days, Mollymauk was proud of himself for keeping his hands off of Caleb as long as he did, especially when he kept feeling Caleb’s gaze on his back, practically burning a hole through his coat.

But everyone had had a bad time of it lately. They were well away, now, and safely tucked away inside the magic mansion for the night. The door of this place had hidden them from detection in more dangerous places than this lonely patch of woods by the riverbank, though perhaps not from more dangerous types than the ones who might already be pursuing them.

So everyone was on edge and no one wanted to be away from each other but, eventually, Caleb saw everyone settled in their rooms one by one. Molly had his doubts that anyone would be  _staying_ in their own rooms tonight, himself included, but couldn’t deny that even the attempt at their usual routine was comforting.

It was enough that he was able to wait until Caleb had bid Nott a good night, closed her door, and stepped away before he grabbed the wizard, shoved him back against the opposite wall, and kissed him soundly.

He normally tried not to act quite this rashly, but was immensely grateful to realize that, just this once, Caleb didn’t mind. Caleb threaded his fingers through Molly’s hair to hold him in place to kiss him back, deep and desperate. The taste of him, the feel of him  _alive_ , made a faint whine vibrate in Molly’s throat. He’d been so sure he’d never have this chance again.

“I need you,” he whispered, when he had to pull away to breathe. “Stay with me tonight?” He wasn’t ashamed of how openly pleading the words were, and his heart surged with relief when Caleb nodded in fervent agreement - he still looked so pale and exhausted, so  _scared_ , and Molly wanted nothing more than to fix that, even if only for a night.

Permission granted, he pulled Caleb into his room and locked the door behind them. When he asked Caleb if he could do more than just hold him all night, he didn’t even have time to finish reassuring the human that he could say no before Caleb was impatiently shoving Molly’s coat off his shoulders and tugging at his shirt. 

They got each other stripped, and then Molly got Caleb in his bed and set to work getting familiar all over again with every inch of him. He took his time, kept things slow and safe, wanting to savor every second he never thought he’d have again. Eventually, Caleb stopped shaking like he was going to fall apart. He stopped clinging to Molly like he was going to be torn away again. Eventually, Molly couldn’t see an ounce of tension left him in - Caleb was relaxed and pliant on the bed, moaning and whimpering and whispering nonsense pleas and Zemnian endearments, lost in the warmth of hands and mouth and words.

When they were both finished and spent, sleep came easier than it had any right to, though Molly forced himself to stay awake a little longer to enjoy the peace on Caleb’s face and the faint rise and fall of his chest.

The future was uncertain, but it could wait until morning. His feelings had never felt stronger, and that was all that mattered now. 


	2. Stop (Caleb/Molly

“Hey now, hey, it’s fine, you can stop now.”

Molly’s arms were wrapped around him, his chin resting on Caleb’s shoulder, as they watched the drunken asshole stumble from the bar. Caleb’s hands were still smoldering. He twitched with surprise when he felt Molly move to cover them, disregarding the heat.

Caleb tried to breathe and will the fire away. “He shouldn’t have said…”

“People are assholes about tieflings. Especially ones as beautiful as me. I know it, you know it, it doesn’t matter.” He kissed Caleb on the cheek. “Not when I’ve got my own wizard in shining armor.”


	3. Come Back (Caleb/Molly)

“Caleb? Please come back.”

Caleb stopped walking, then took a deep breath and kept going. Molly kept going, too, staying a few feet behind. He sounded much less tired than Caleb felt.

“This isn’t going to work, Mollymauk,” Caleb snapped.

“Of course it’s not, if you keep running away.” Molly’s voice softened with concern, damn him. “We don’t have to talk, if you even just ate something…”

“And then what?” He was scared to think that far ahead.

“Then we figure it out, all together.”

When Molly caught up this time, Caleb didn’t have it in him to pull away.


	4. Unrequited (Yasha and Nott)

“They’re really being ridiculous, aren’t they?” asked Nott, as she and Yasha sat waiting for the rats to finish cooking.

“A little bit.” Yasha didn’t ask who she was referring to. Watching Caleb and Molly in the bookstore earlier had been bad enough to make her feel awkward on their behalf.

“We should do something. Preferably before Beau does.”

“Like what?”

“According to Jester, locking in closets is traditional.”

“I don’t think Molly would appreciate that. I was sort of thinking of luring them onto the roof and taking away the ladder until they talked things out.”

“That works, too.”


	5. Surprise (Caleb & Nott)

“I never took you for the fancy cafe sort, little friend.”

Nott guiltily tore her eyes away from the shop window she’d been staring at. “Why’s that?” she mumbled sullenly.

“Because you are with me, and no one in their right minds would let me walk into a place that nice.”

That made her laugh, thankfully, which gave Caleb an idea. He couldn’t change her face enough to make her look respectable, but he could make himself look impressive enough to distract the halfling behind the counter so Nott could steal some fancy pastries.

They had a picnic outside town.


	6. Roam (Caleb/Molly)

Caleb was the most touch-starved person Molly had ever met. It took a while before he trusted Molly to help.

Once he did, the two of them would pass entire evenings curled up in bed together with Caleb stripped out of his layers to let his lover take care of him. Molly memorized the knots in Caleb’s shoulders and the shadow of his ribs again and again and so much more.

All the while, he tried to ignore how his heart broke every time Caleb whimpered and shuddered and pressed himself into Molly’s hands, clearly overwhelmed but deliriously content regardless.


	7. Grab (Caleb/Molly)

The Mighty Nein collapsed in the grass, panting, bleeding, exultant, and alive. Molly, however, found that he couldn’t relax yet, and went to check on Caleb.

“Hey there. You’re back with us, right? You know who we are?”  _Who I am?_

Caleb was leaning against a tree, staring back the way they’d come. He looked up as Mollymauk approached and  _smiled_  at him with such open recognition and love that Molly almost lost his composure entirely.

“Mollymauk,” Caleb said, and Molly didn’t let him say anything more before he grabbed him and kissed him as Ikithon’s mansion burned behind them.


	8. Sleep (Caleb/Molly)

Molly slept like the dead. He fell asleep quickly and was hard to wake, which made him a terrible choice to sit watch. Caleb started volunteering to stay up with him sometimes, so the group wasn’t left undefended.

He usually didn’t bother to wake Molly when the tiefling inevitably fell asleep beside him, just waited out the night alone.

The heavy, silent stillness was preferable to when Molly talked in his sleep, calling out for people Caleb didn’t know. Sometimes Caleb answered as if he was them, for the sake of helping settle him, and never talked about it afterwards.


	9. "Oh, I've Missed You" (Caleb/Molly)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrote this at something like 2:30 a.m. local time after Molly had died. It let me finally get some sleep, and the basic idea of it would go on to become "The Long and Winding Road"

It took ten months, two expeditions into various assorted tombs, and countless dead monsters and cultists before Caleb finally found what he was looking for. Nott was overjoyed for him, because here at last, he could finally fix his mistakes, and Caleb wondered if she knew from the start just which mistake he intended to fix.

The spell was exhausting beyond all measure - later on he would see that it had made a few tufts of his hair go white, made him feel like  _something_ inside him had broken just a little but from the strain. But the end result was what it had to be, and as the magic faded around them, Caleb looked up and smiled at Mollymauk Tealeaf, blinking dazedly in the light.

And those were the first words he said; they were probably horribly inadequate, under the circumstances, but then Molly stumbled forward and hugged him and then it seemed like actions could indeed speak louder than words.


	10. The Company You Keep (Caleb & Nott)

Goblins are easily overlooked when they aren’t being actively scorned - all the bigger targets are on the ground, bleeding or twitching or stunned, and Astrid is clearly looking to enjoy her victory. Caleb is the only other one even on his knees, clutching at his head and whimpering as Astrid’s words and magic ravage him, mind and body.

Nott is prepared to take full advantage of Astrid’s arrogance, as she creeps with infinite care and unnatural stealth from tree to bush to tree, circling around behind their foe with her dagger in her hand and murder in her heart, because on top of everything else here is one of the people who gave her boy the impression that he was a broken worthless thing instead of the best human Nott will ever know. 

She doesn’t hesitate, she shows no mercy - as soon as she spies her opening, she takes it, springing out of cover and drawing her blade in a long, bloody gash across the back of Astrid’s legs, making the mage drop to her knees with a scream of shock and pain. 

“Fuck the Empire,” Nott says vehemently, pressing the dagger against Astrid’s throat. “Let them go right now.” 


End file.
